Page 158 of Zero Chance

But all he said was, “Let’s just say that girl needs something good to happen in her life for a change.So you better treat her like a goddamn princess, you hear me.”

Pulling back in my seat, I parked my Jeep but left the engine running.“I hear you, man,” I said, my mind still spinning with the worst possibilities.“And I’m one step ahead of you.I’m going to be the best boyfriend she’s ever had.”

“Boyfriend?”His shock was palpable.“So you’ve gone from player to one-woman man just like that, huh?”

“Yep,” I said without an ounce of hesitation.“Just like that.”

“Yeah, well…” He chuckled.“We’ll see how that goes.I honestly hope y’alldomake it.I like the idea of you two together.”

“In that case,” I snarked back.“Stop stealing all my good lines.I tried giving her the feather talk—you know, that one Matt gave us in the share circle years ago—only to learnyou’dalready done it, ya asshole.”

And she’d ended up tatting herself because of it too.That shit was going to stop now.Her next tattoo was going to featureme.

Parker belly laughed before taunting, “Jealous?”

“No,” I muttered, sniffing so he’d hopefully believe me.

He didn’t.“Right,” he drawled smugly.“Now, if there’s nothing else, I gotta go.My talking is stirring Hope awake, so I’m going to try to score another round with her while she’s all sleepy and soft and pliable.”

“Aww, sick, man.”I grimaced because out of all the women my best friends were dating, Hope felt the most sister-like to me.And picturing her getting it on with anyone, especially Ohrley, was just wrong.“TMI.”

He chuckled.“Later, kid.Take care.”

“Yeah.See ya.”

We hung up, and I set the phone in my lap, but I didn’t cut the engine of the Jeep yet.Staring sightlessly at Archer House, I swallowed hard, wondering what more there was to know about my own girlfriend.What other horrors had she survived?

35

WAVERLY

So yeah, Keene and my mother did not get along.

The week progressed with me suffering through Mom’s complaints and snarky comments about Keene when I was home, and then listening to him bitch and moan about how early he had to return me when I was with him.He’d joke about me gettinggroundedor my allowance cut off if we were too late.

I’d never been grounded once in my life.I wasn’t even sure if my parentshada grounding policy.

Both sides started to stress me out until at least Keene realized how much it bothered me, andhestopped belittling my mother after the first few days.But I could feel the cold resentment waft off him whenever I mentioned anything to do with my family, and I knew…

This was never going to work.Not in the long run.

Except Keene was in my life right now—and he seemed to want to be there—so I helplessly followed the flow to wherever this train wreck of a relationship was headed.I couldn’t relinquish him just yet.

Especially on Valentine’s Day.

After applying the finishing touches of gloss, I stepped back from the mirror and rubbed my lips together.Xander’s fashion lessons had been paying off.Pleased by the outcome, I turned away and hurried downstairs to keep watch for Keene out the front window.

I didn’t want him to have to come to the front door when he got here and risk a repeat of Monday night.

“Well, look at you,” Dad said as he appeared at the entrance of his office and leaned against the door frame, tucking a folded newspaper under one arm as he smiled affectionately.“You look lovely.Got a big date tonight?”

“With herboyfriend,” Gates taunted from the back den.

Rolling my eyes, I couldn’t stop the blush from heating my cheeks as I met my dad’s gaze.“Yeah,” I said, only to hold my breath, waiting for him to go into some lecture or warning about Keene because of Mom’s feelings toward him.“He should be here any minute.”

Without immediately answering, he made me squirm by the thoughtful way he studied me.

“So you really like him, huh?”

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